One in the Same
by MargaritaVille108
Summary: It's been about two years since Voldemort's downfall and everything's been going well for Neville Longbottom.  He has a good job, a decent flat, and a wonderful girlfriend; However, something in missing.  He knows what it is, but is it too late to fix it.
1. Chapter 1

Normally, I'm all for canon, but I must say in the movie *Spoiler Alert* I was so happy when they put Neville and Luna together. I decided to do a story, that would kind of have J.K. Rowling's way and the movie's way involved. Obviously, it will go off canon. I apologize if there are any spelling errors or grammatical errors. Happy reading! Please review if you have the time!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. The credit belongs to the amazing J.K. Rowling.

One in the Same

Part 1

"Lumos." The tip of Neville Longbottom's wand emitted a small beam of light. Using the wand's light he carefully examined the white petals of his potted scurvy-grass. He frowned slightly as his recent neglect of them was beginning to show. After the Battle of Hogwarts, and after spending some much needed time lying low living with his Gran, he planned to further his interest in plants and perhaps take a job at an apothecary; However, as new Minister of Magic, Kingsley Shacklebolt requested, in fact urged, his assistance in reforming the new Ministry as well as bringing the few remaining Death Eaters to justice. For the past two years he spent most of his time at the Ministry or with Ron Weasley and Harry Potter chasing down hunting down Death Eaters (one encounter did include a rather embarrassing interview of the Malfoy family, which had brought Neville a particular joy).

"Aguamenti," he bathed the grass in water, shooting out in a small jet from his wand. Frowning again, he rubbed a blade of the grass between his fingers for a moment, thinking deeply. Although it did bring some upsetting feelings considering he excelled at Herbology, it wasn't the fact that the scurvy grass's death was an inevitable event that was bothering him. For weeks, maybe even a few months, the same thing had been bothering him. It was easy to push it out of his mind while fighting Death Eaters or spending time at the Ministry, but in times like this, when he sat alone in his flat, it was hard to ignore. Settling the scurvy grass's pot back on the shelf, he walked over to his bed. He laid his wand on his bed-side table, pulling out a thick, leather photo album from the drawer. On the first page he saw the happy faces of his parents on their wedding day; the next page a photo of them when he was first born, looking overjoyed; the next page a few photos of his mother, father, his grandmother, grandfather, and his infant self on his first birthday; the next a photo of his parents and him on the couch in their living room when he was just over a year old—the last picture they ever took together as a family, _a normal family_. The next few pages consisted of pictures from holidays or other important events while living with his grandmother, such as his first day of Hogwarts and his seventeenth birthday. He laughed as he noticed that his grandmother sported her horrid vulture-adorned hat in almost every photo.

Finally he arrived at the photo for which he was searching—one of his favorite photos. He pulled the picture out of the album to examine it more closely and smiled again as the faces of the Dumbledore's Army members beamed back at him. He remembered the day it was taken, a hurried shot, when Collin Creevey insisted upon everyone getting in it as one of the meetings adjourned. There he was, in the front row, with his brother, Dennis, grinning madly. Pressing some button on his camera gave him the ability to be in the photo as well. Neville remembered him and how happy he was in belonging to the D.A., like Neville himself. Neville often regarded Collin as one of the bravest students he'd ever met. As a sixth year he refused to leave Hogwarts and leave Harry and the D.A.

Neville's eyes glanced from face to face, taking in memories with each new set of eyes: Fred and George, smirks lingering; they had probably just shared an inside joke; Ron and Hermione standing next to each other "No doubt already mad for each other," Neville thought to himself; and of course, Harry in the front and center, at Collin's insistence of course rather than his own desire.

His eyes caught Hannah Abbot's for a brief moment. For anyone that was in a relationship, the natural reaction to a photograph would be to find and admire his or her significant other in the picture. And who wouldn't want to look at Hannah? She was beautiful with long blonde hair and rosy cheeks. She still was, with the same hair, except a pony tail exchanged for the pigtails and a bit taller. In the photo she stood next to Ernie Macmillan and Justine Finch-Fletchley on the complete opposite side of the group from Neville. In truth, they never were the closest of friends in school. Until the brief encounter at the Battle of Hogwarts, Neville hadn't seen her since she left in sixth year after her mother's murder. They caught up again a few months after the battle when Neville, Ron, and Harry stopped for a drink at The Leaky Cauldron, where she had then just began to work and had been dating ever since.

His guilty avoided Hannah's gaze in the picture. She wasn't the reason he took out the photo. He continued to scan the rows of faces until he came across a pair of large silvery grey eyes that didn't seem to blink. His stomach lurched. Examining his watch, he realized he still had time to do what he had to do. No matter how bad he felt and how useless it was, he had to do it.


	2. Chapter 2

One in the Same

Part 2

"Hey Longbottom, what are you doing out this time of night?" a familiar face called as Neville shuffled down the nearly deserted streets of quickly darkening Diagon Alley. He turned quickly to see George Weasley, who was fixing the "closed" sign on his front door. "Going to see Hannah?" he smirked. Neville tried to produce a meager laugh, but it came out as more of a grunt, as he nodded his head. Everyone knew he and Hannah were together and as far as anyone knew, they were doing perfectly well. Although George's comment made Neville a bit sick to his stomach, it was good to see a smile on George's face, even f it was a smirk. George didn't smile even a quarter as much as he used to smile.

A few moments later, Neville found himself at the back entrance of The Leaky Cauldron. Upon entering, he could hear Hannah ushering two drunken elderly wizards out the door. "Either rent a room or out the door," she said guiding them towards the door. Hearing Neville enter she called out, "Sorry we're closed for the night," before turning around and realizing it was him. "Oh," she laughed and hurried over to him. "Hello, darling," she kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry, you can stay," she joked. "C'mon sit down," she grabbed his hand pulling him over to a barstool which summoning two drinks from behind the bar. "How was work today?" she sipped her drink happily.

"Oh…err…fine," Neville answered. He knew it would be hard to talk to her, but he didn't expect to have to do it while she was making small talk. "Did you go anywhere or just stay at the Ministry? Is something wrong with your drink?" She noticed that Neville had not touched his drink. He took a quick gulp choking on it. "J-just the Ministry," he answered. "Lots of paperwork."

"Oh, that sounds rather boring, I'm sorry," she gave him a sympathetic look. "Did you see Dean Thomas at all? Did you hear about his promotion?"

"Yeah I heard about it," he took another gulp of his drink. "I didn't see him though."

"I bet. That was an awfully big promotion for so quickly. Right up to the top at the Muggle Liaison Office. You know, I bet he'll be in Magical Cooperation by next year."

"Yeah," Neville really couldn't think of anything else to say. It was true. Dean had just received a pretty big promotion to head of the Muggle Liaison Office (That day Seamus Finnegan, who now worked at the Department of Magical Transportation, caught with Neville and had suggested they treat Dean to drinks that upcoming weekend.) and Neville was thrilled for him, but he just didn't want to discuss it right now. "Speaking of promotions," Hannah shifted in her seat a bit excitedly. "Tom has been talking about retiring and…." Neville took her silence as a chance to let the anticipation build up for her announcement. "If he does, he says I'll get the pub." She grabbed Neville's hands. "I'll be the new landlady of The Leaky Cauldron." A large smile broke out on her face. Neville tried to smile. This news set of an internal argument.

_How could you tell her that now?_

_You can keep going on like this._

_But she's so happy now._

_She'll still be happy about being landlady._

_Maybe I could wait until tomorrow…or a little while and just let her be happy._

_That's what you said last time. _

"Are you alright?" Hannah stared at him clearly aware that he was not as happy as one would be expected to be. "I mean don't worry. I won't need help, and if I do I'll just hire someone else. I'm not asking you to give up anything."

"Oh no I….I know that."

"Then what's wrong?" She seemed concerned sending the two drinks, her empty mug and Neville's half full one, back behind the counter. "You've been acting strange for a while now. Have I done something to upset you?"

"No, you haven't done anything," his voice trailed off. Hannah's face looked more worried with every passing second. Neville, who own hands were shaking, grabbed Hannah's gently. "Hannah…you're…you're wonderful. You're so brave and kind and beautiful. I…I think we've known for a while that we're…well we're…not going to…that someone thing's off."

"For you," she said a bit harshly pulling her hands away.

"Not just me," he tried to make it seem like the idea was hers. "It just hasn't been the same as it was when we first…" Clearly that idea wasn't working. He knew he had to take the blame for it all. "I just, I don't think it's fair for us to stay together if we…"

"I get it," Hannah interrupted him quickly swiping her hand across her face stopping an escaped tear from trickling down her cheeks. "I know. I know things haven't been the same."

"You can do much better than me anyway," he laughed.

"I'm not sure about that," she said, almost with a gentle smile. She sniffed a few times before speaking again. "Well, I should be getting up to bed. Tom won't be happy if there are still people down here," she stood up and pushed in her bar stool. Neville followed suit. "I guess this is goodbye…for now," she stared at the floor. Neville grabbed her hands again causing her to look him in the eye. "You really are a wonderful girl, any guy will be the luckiest to have you."

"Thanks." Neville gave her a quick hug.

"I'll see you soon?" he asked heading towards the back.

"I'll be here," she said. "If you ever want a drink." Neville nodded his head and walked towards the wall in the back. Before he reached the entrance to Diagon Alley, Hannah called again, "It's her isn't it?" Even though Neville wasn't looking at Hannah, he felt his cheeks redden. "It's who…"

"She's engaged you know." Hannah knew. It made Neville wonder if everybody knew.

"I know," he said to himself sadly before going back into Diagon Alley.


	3. Chapter 3

One in the Same

Part 3

Neville sat on his bed examining an old edition of "The Quibbler." On the front page big, bold, letters read "**Engagement of Editor's Daughter! Turn to Page 2 to Read about the Happy Couple**." Neville did as the ad instructed and turned to page two. The same sinking feeling hit his stomach when he first discovered the article about a month previous reared again. On page two, there was a photograph, covering the entire page, of Luna Lovegood and her new fiancé Rolf Scamander. The picture showed the couple in a happy embrace, holding hands, a delicate sapphire ring on Luna's finger, and her dreamy eyes shifting to look up at Rolf as she smiled. If one did not know they were engaged, Luna and Rolf could have been brother and sister. He was reasonably taller than she, but had very light blonde hair, perhaps just a shade darker than Draco Malfoy's, and crystal blue eyes. His, however, lacked the dreamy expression. Page three consisted of an article discussing the couple and their recent trips to Sweden and Norway to search for and catalog different breeds of various rare creatures. Neville had read the article at least three times. He didn't need to read it again. He remembered when he first found out about Luna's engagement. He knew that after her final year at school, she and her father went on their own excursion to discover what the general public believed to be imaginary creatures. Somewhere along the way, Luna must have met Rolf. Neville was having dinner at the Burrow and decided to finally go to Luna and say something to her—anything. He was still with Hannah at the time so he couldn't ask to be with her, but he thought perhaps he could find out whether or not Luna would consider being with him. He was however, too late. Her father was home, which had newly been built to look almost exactly the same, except a bit larger (some extra room was added for some sort of Quibbler related business about which Neville cared not to ask), and told Neville that Luna and her new fiancé Rolf had gone on their excursion and then began recounting their whole relationship excitedly much to Neville's dismay.

He stared at the large picture again, suddenly feeling very overprotective of Luna. _Who was this guy anyway?_ According to the article, he was grandson of the famous naturalist Newt Scamander, but exactly _who was he?_ _How long did he even know Luna anyway? How much did he know about her? He'd never been through all that she and Neville had been through…had been through together._ Suddenly filled with some sort of adrenaline, Neville dropped the magazine and headed for the door. He wasn't sure exactly what he was doing, but at least he was doing something.

On his way to Luna's house, all he could do was beat himself up constantly pestering himself with questions about why he didn't tell Luna how he felt at school and why he never pursued anything afterward. He arrived around ten o'clock. Seeing light inside the windows, he knew that someone was still awake. He took a few deep breaths, gathering up his courage, and slowly walked to the door. He was inches away from grabbing the knocker when panic set in. _What was he thinking?_ He'd only just broken up with Hannah yesterday, and even though he'd always liked her, she obviously didn't like him. She was engaged. Thankful that he didn't knock, he turned around and hurried off the steps, skipping the last two. He breathed a sigh of relief as he reached the front path. He got away without being seen.

"Neville?" Neville froze, torn between running for it (for some reason apparition just didn't seem like an option) or turning around. Turning slowly he saw the figure at the door, already recognizing her by her voice. "H-hi Luna." She smiled broadly and walked down the stairs to greet him with a hug. He noticed that she still kept her wand tucked behind her ear. "I was wondering when I'd be seeing you," she said. "I just saw Ginny this morning at the Burrow. I stopped down to stay hello. Did you know Harry's staying with them? He and Ron were gone though already, working at the Ministry still under Minister Shacklebolt and with you of course. I've only been back a few days though. I have plenty of time to see everyone."

"Oh so…" Neville tried desperately to think of something to say, anything to avoid stating why he was feet away from her front door at ten o'clock at night. "Your trip was nice?"

"Oh yes," she answered contently staring up at the starry sky. Her focus seemed to be somewhere else as it always did. "I saw many fascinating creatures. You know like Fwoopers in Africa, creatures you can't find here." Neville nodded his head a bit overenthusiastically. "And how's your grandmother?"  
>"Oh she's good. She's good. I have my own flat now, but I visit her all the time."<p>

"I'm sure she's happy about that," said Luna. "And how's Hannah? I believe that's what I heard that you were seeing each other."

"Yes, well no," he said. "It's funny, well not really funny, but that's actually why, well…we're not together anymore," he said.

"Oh I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. Actually, that's why I came here," he took another deep breath. It was now or never. "I, well I…I guess you could say I really missed you, while you were gone and I know this is…well there's really no point in saying it," he began to babble, but Luna seemed to be following so he continued, "I mean I'm sure Rolf's a great bloke and he's a naturalist like you and it must be nice to be with someone who has the same profession and I mean when you put me next to him I don't look very good, but I just…I figured it's now or never right? Well I mean not now or never, that was a bit more applicable back at the Battle during school. I guess I shouldn't really throw that phrase around so carelessly. Anyway, I just, I hope you're happy with Rolf. I want you to be happy, but I wanted to tell you that I…" Luna stopped him from talking by squeezing his hand. "Rolf and I aren't together anymore," she said quietly, her eyes glancing downward at her ringless finger. Neville's eyes widened in shock. "But why? I mean I just saw the article…"

"Yes, Daddy was a bit excited about it," she laughed, "and of course sad when I told him we weren't getting married, but…" she starred off into space again, "to an outsider, Rolf and I would seem almost the same, but to those who really know us, we're completely different."

"Really?"

"Yes. Of course he is a wonderful person and very talented, but he needs to see things before he believes them. He needs them right in front of his face. Of course I understand not believing everything completely on faith, but you can't go throughout life only believing in things that you have seen. Or at least I can't. He was never too happy on how apparently I believe things to easily."

"Yeah," Neville agreed saddened that Luna had let go of his hand while explaining her break-up with Rolf. "I know this is really soon," Neville started up again, "and this whole thing probably doesn't make any difference, but I…well I guess you could say I really like you, and I know that I'm probably not the type of…"

"Neville, don't be silly, I've always liked you," she smiled. He was quite shocked she even understood what he was saying. That was one of the great things about Luna; she always seemed to know what people were thinking. She understood them.

"What? You have?" He wondered if Luna was getting his definition of the word "like" confused. "Are you sure?" She laughed again.

"Of course, I'm sure. I've liked you ever since we formed Dumbledore's Army." Neville took this as a great shock. "Really?"

"Yes," she answered matter-of-factly. "You were so determined and brave and you were always nice to me. And you shouldn't talk so down about yourself. You're an amazing wizard," she smiled again, this time actually focusing her eyes on him. She placed her hand gently in his. "C'mon. Let's take a walk." She led him down the front path and out onto the grass where they began their walk. "So, if you don't mind my asking," Neville began, "If you liked me, why didn't you say anything? You know, earlier?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she said before answering, "I always thought I was a bit too odd for you." Neville laughed. There was some truth to that. At one point he did believe Luna's quirkiness was a bit too much for him, but if he had held that opinion for longer than a moment, this walk with her would have changed his mind. Walking together reminiscing about their times and school and adventures thus far, he realized that, just like they both took the most out of Dumbledore's Army, they both held the same beliefs and the same wants. Yes, perhaps with less important matters such as the existence of Crumple-Horned Snorkacks, they might be different people, but with more important matters, how to treat others, the meaning of friendship, the meaning of love, they were one in the same.


End file.
